Treasure of the Heart
by Aladoree
Summary: The journey undertaken in National Treasure unleashes itself upon three high school girls, all of whom embody different ideals, and seek the treasure for different reasons. Written for my friends' amusement, originally. Chapter 3 is posted.
1. Charlotte

**A/N & Disclaimer: **I own nothing pertaining to National Treasure. This was originally written for the amusement of myself and my friends ... however, I've decided to post it here as well. The first three chapters are already written; I will upload the next few as reviews flow in. Comments, critique, and flames are all quite welcome.

Dusk had long since passed over the land; twilight reigned supreme, and Morpheus rode his mighty chariot through the skies, unleashing waves of darkness and drowsiness over the people below. He certainly affected the people aboard a certain plane, soaring lazily through the air as it winged toward the nation's capital. Nearly all of the passengers aboard were asleep -- all except a few. One, a blonde, was seated next to another girl with rich walnut locks. The former was still wide-awake; the latter, asleep. The blonde shifted restlessly, wrenching her eyes away from her Game Boy Advance SP to peer across the aisle toward a dark-haired, dark-eyed girl who, also quite awake, was quite engrossed in staring at the back of a dollar bill. What was terribly fascinating about _that_? she wondered with a small shrug. "Pssst, Kim!" she hissed across the aisle. "What're you doing?"

Distractedly, the bespectacled student glanced toward her friend with a slightly bemused expression. "Hmm? I, uh -- nothing." She winced a little as the person seated next to her released a particularly loud snore and fidgeted in his sleep, and quickly lowered her voice. "Why d'you ask?"

Natalie fixed her best you-can't-fool-me look onto her with a determined expression. "It's not nothing. You were staring at the back of a dollar bill. It must be pretty fascinating. Did it move or something?"

Kimberly stifled a chuckle with difficulty, and merely sighed exasperatedly. "Nat, you know just as well as I do that dollar bills do _not_ move. No, I was uh, studying the Latin words on the back. Y'know, trying to translate them out of boredom and all that."

Perhaps Nat accepted the feigned words as reason; at any rate, she rolled her eyes, muttered under her breath, "You and your Latin-obsession, " and promptly returned to staring out into the night sky.

Unlike her friend, Kim did not stare unfocusedly into the distance, nor did she speedily fall asleep. Her fingers, instead, ran slowly, thoughtfully, over the edges of the dollar bill still clutched by her right-hand. There were going to be answers, she felt sure, in Washington D.C. Dropping the paper soundlessly into her lap, her right-hand slipped into the deep pocket of her dark brown jacket, feeling around blindly, momentarily, until it hit a sheaf of parchment. Gently, her thumb and forefinger closed over it, and she pulled it forth, exposing it to the barely-lit exterior of the plane's cabin. The paper was yellowed with age, and had been painstakingly scribed upon some hundreds of years past. Thick lines of black etched into the grainy parchment unmistakably spelled out the word _Charlotte_. Tuning out the now-quieter snores of the tall man next to her, Kimberly's mind drifted back to the events of several months earlier.

_It had been an ordinary spring day, much like any another that came through Florida. The orange blossoms and oak trees were in full bloom, causing much grief for allergy-sufferers everywhere. Kimberly, sneezing like crazy, had made her way, cursing, out to the mailbox. Tossing the generic bills onto the kitchen table as she re-entered the mobile home, she spared neither Verizon nor TECO a cursory glance. No, her attention had, instead, been caught by the plain white envelope that remained in her hands -- addressed to _her_. Suspiciously, she slowly slit the envelope open, cautiously peering inside before withdrawing a half-folded sheet of crisp, white stationary. "Dear Miss Brewer, " she read, "It is with regret that we inform you of the death of Miss Deborah Huntington, an heiress who contributed many ancient Colonial pieces to the Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. She has named you as the recipient of a piece of her property in her will. You will find it enclosed here. Sincerely, H&H Law Firm, Inc." That had been all. There was nothing more to read. Disappointed, and a trifle disgusted, she shoved the paper back into the plain envelope in which it came, frowning slightly as she suddenly noticed the small scrap of parchment that fluttered out of the folded-letter. She must have missed it when she originally opened the notice. The parchment had only a single word imprinted upon it: _Charlotte

_Three months of seemingly endless research later, she found herself writing to two professors of archaeology who were studying a recently-unearthed ghost-ship found in the northern regions of the continent, explaining her story and her search for the ship the _Charlotte_, which, she had learned, once carried a large group of people to North America from Europe. Would it be possible for them to let her know of their findings before they were released to the scientific and historic community? She soon received an e-mail back from them, in which both professors refused to share the details of their findings, for fear of immediate media exposure, but they would send her a picture of something they had found completely useless to their research -- perhaps it'd help her? Her eyes had widened as she had watched the image of the old, ivory pipe load on her computer screen, at first in awe, and then incredulity. This didn't seem to pertain to anything at all regarding the _Charlotte_. But on second thought, after magnifying the picture, a large carving of an eye was visible right in the middle of the ivory portion, and the symbol of the Freemasons was clearly visible. Excitedly, Kim wrote back, thanking them for the picture, and inquiring if she could perhaps obtain the item. The response was an unchallengeable no. Frustrated, she was about to delete the message, when she noticed a postscript at the bottom: "P.S. Due to your interest, we are manufacturing a cheap duplicate for your perusal. The original will soon be on display in the Museum of History."_

_Four weeks later, a small UPS truck trundled down Brightwood Drive, and came to a grinding halt in front of the girl's home. Quickly scrawling a loopy signature onto the proffered clipboard after reassuring the driver that yes, she was indeed old enough to sign for herself, Kim snatched the package from the startled man's hands and ran inside excitedly. Yes, there it was, she had thought triumphantly, ripping the paper away eagerly. The duplicate, just as promised. As she turned it around slowly in her hands, she noticed that the barrel portion rotated. Now, _that_ was rather peculiar. There were even strange, runic-like symbols inscribed everywhere around the symbol of the Freemasons. Frowning a little, she quickly obtained a bottle of iodine from the medicine cabinet, and without hesitation, poured it onto the barrel. As the dark stains spread into each tiny cavity and hollow, it became increasingly apparent that the symbols were really some sort of pattern. A secret message, perhaps? Ten minutes later, she had rolled it firmly onto a small piece of paper, and stared at the words with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity: "Charlotte has revealed the path, led by the words scribed in black. The words of Silence will provide the key to the map, from words of iron, written on the back. The Eye, All-Seeing, guides the way, to the grounds where nothing sees the light of day."_

_She thought it was an odd coincidence that during the next few weeks of school, a trip to Washington D.C. had been announced by the Social Studies department. The first few students who signed up would receive a scholarship from the school that would pay for the entire program, and Kimberly had been determined to get her name on the first few lines of the sign-up sheet. Not so surprisingly, she did so, right along with Natalie and Jessica. They were on the brink of something great. She could feel it in her bones. _

Drawn out of her reverie by another grunting snore from the man seated to her right, the girl disgustedly muttered under her breath as she placed both parchment and dollar back into her pocket, eventually drifting into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Words Penned in Iron

**A/N: **Short chapter, yes, but the next one is larger. More to come with reviews - and thanks to the two that have already done so. :)

"It could be worse, you know, " Kim offered amusedly, in an attempt to cheer up the bored, disinterested visages that seemed to surround her on all sides as the group of students was led on a tour of the National Archives. "We could be forced to take a test on what we're learning here. At least it's all extracurricular."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, were I you, Miss Brewer, " her teacher's voice said, from somewhere slightly behind her. "Those of you who are in my class will have to make presentations on the historical places and facts that we learn about during our stay here in Washington D.C."

"Not _another_ six-hundred point project, " someone muttered to their left, eliciting a grin from Kimberly.

"And on your right, " the tour guide droned, effectively interrupting the disgruntled conversation, "is the hall housing our country's most valuable and revered documents. Within, you will find the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the letters of Silence Dogood, recently donated by an heiress ..."

Kim's mind gradually tuned out the rest of the guide's voice; he sounded rather nasal and quite boring, after all. Instead, she pondered over the script revealed from the pipe of the _Charlotte_. _The words of Silence will provide the key to the map, from words of iron, written on the back ..._ Words of iron. That was undoubtedly some sort of statue, perhaps engraved with more runic symbols?

"Earth to Kim!"

Startled, the girl blinked, surprised to discover that the rest of the group had proceeded slightly ahead, while Natalie and Jessica had remained behind.

"Surely you weren't _that_ bored?" Nat prompted laughingly. "I mean, the rest of us aren't interested in this stuff, but you're in Mr. B's class - you're _supposed_ to pay attention, aren't you? Didn't he just say that there'd a test on all of this or something?"

"A project, a presentation, " Kimberly corrected wearily. "Yes, I _know_." _Words of iron ..._

Jessica gave her friend a concerned look as her eyes slid slightly out-of-focus, shoving an errant strand of brown hair back behind her ear. "Kim? You've been kind of distant the past few days - on the plane ride, through the tours of the museums, at night in the hotel room, and now today ... is everything alright?"

"What?" Kim murmured distractedly, forcing herself to return to the present. "Oh, um, yeah. Everything's fine. Really."

"Well, if everything's fine, then let's go raid the vending machine, " Natalie suggested with a gleeful grin. "Mr. B would never miss us, right, Kim? We could just sneak over toward the gift shop and then meet the rest of the group there, couldn't we?"

"I guess, " Kim replied with a small shrug, reaching into her pocket idly. "But I don't have any money on me. I left most of it back at the hotel for later. You did say we were going to order pizza tonight -- oops!" As she pulled out the single dollar bill that was still in the pocket of her coat, a small piece of parchment and a larger piece of paper fluttered to the floor. "Oh crap, " she muttered, bending down instantly to retrieve them. Another hand snatched both out of the way, however, before she could get to them.

"Hey, Kim, what's this?" Nat asked interestedly, staring at the scrap of parchment. "Why do you have the name 'Charlotte' written on here? And what's this?"

"Nat, give them _back_, " Kim demanded in return, standing and brushing her coat off indignantly. "Please."

But it was too late. Natalie had already opened the twice-folded paper containing the words from the ivory pipe, and read them with a furrowed brow. "That's a pretty lousy poem, Kim. Please tell me you didn't write this."

"I didn't, " the girl answered agitatedly. "As a matter of fact, I'll have you know that they came from my -- "

"Oh great, so now she has a _boyfriend_, too! Yay, I think I'm going to be sick!" Nat declared, even as she made retching noises dramatically.

"Nat. Stop it, before you embarrass us all, " Kim hissed, stalking toward the entrance of the chamber housing the nation's documents.

"That was the point, " Natalie grinned, even as she and Jess followed. "Why're we going in here? The group went in the other direction."

"Maybe to get out of the main hallway so people would stop staring at us?" Kim shot back.

Meanwhile, Jessica had peeked over Nat's shoulder and read the cryptic verse with a placid gaze. "Kim, the poem isn't really all that bad. You write well, you know. You don't have to be shy about it."

"I did _not_ write that, " Kimberly repeated for what already felt like the upteenth time. "It came off of this really old pipe that was discovered in the ruins of the _Charlotte._ That's why the parchment was in my pocket with the name. It's a really, really old ship."

"But what does it _mean_?" Natalie persisted.

"That's just it, " Kim admitted. "I don't know. I'm trying to find out which structure the 'words of iron' could possibly refer to. I know that it has something to with Washington D.C., for the treasure of the nation has to be hidden here."

"Treasure?" Nat and Jess simultaneously echoed. "What treasure?"

"The greatest treasure the world has ever seen, " Kim responded at last in a hushed tone. "I doubt I'm the only one who's looking for it - the first clue came from an heiress's property, who for some reason, willed it to me. Maybe she was a distant family member that I don't know about. I just have to find out which statue the 'words of iron' is pointing to. That'll be the next clue for the treasure hunt. The only problem is that there are too many nicely carved statues in this city to just wander up to each of them searching for inscribed words that look like ancient symbols. We have to be certain of which one it is."

"Maybe it's not literal, " Jess murmured. "What if it's purposefully being figurative? What if it just means, really strong words?"

"Oh, that's just great, " Nat interjected. "That's about as cryptic as the rest of the darn thing."

"Strong words, " Kimberly whispered, dark eyes drawn to the immense room before her. "Strong words. Jessica, I think you're on to something! That makes more sense. The only question now is ... which document is the next clue on? There are too many of them in this room with 'strong words'."

Natalie snorted in a painfully obvious manner. "Um, Kim? Hellooo? What's the strongest document in our nation's history? You, of all people, should know that! You're the historical-Latin-knowledgeable person here among us."

Frustrated, Kim's eyes roved from document case to document case, suddenly coming to a stop upon the largest, most prominent one in the center. "Of course, " she breathed. "Why didn't I think of it before?" Slowly, she approached the glass case, staring with reverence down at the most important document in our nation's history, the one that created our very nation and split America from England, forever.

_The Declaration of Independence._


	3. Natalie's Plan

**A/N: **Well, with five reviews, I suppose I may as well post the next chapter. ;) I haven't worked on this story in a while, but I'm currently working on chapter five. Enjoy, and please review!

Natalie fidgeted impatiently. The trio had been standing before the glass case housing the nation's most treasured document for at least twenty minutes, and she was getting quite bored. The awe that had come over Kim's face momentarily unsettled her, and uneasily, she wondered if she'd have to convince Jessica to help her drag the other girl away from the elaborate chamber. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea, after all.

" ... _written on the back_, " Kimberly was muttering furiously under her breath, staring between the papers still in Nat's hands, and the Declaration of Independence. "Then, that _must_ mean that there's something on the back of the Declaration of Independence, assuming it's the document with the 'words of iron'."

"That does make sense, " Jessica agreed with a little nod, "but how are we going to get a look at the back of this thing? The back of the case is solid and opaque; I guess they figured the public wouldn't be interested in looking at the back of the document."

An eager expression began to insert itself on Nat's visage, quickly followed by a gleeful, scheming grin. "Well, " she drawled, with the air of having to state the obvious, "there's only _one_ way to get to see _all_ of it, you know." Shooting a glance at the nearby guard, she edged closer to the other two girls, and pretended to be absorbed with beholding the grandeur of the Declaration. Her expression betrayed her.

Kim pursed her lips in a no-nonsense manner as she turned her head slightly in the blonde's direction. "Don't go getting any ideas, " she warned, then paused, exhaling frustratedly before adding, "I know you have a plan already made, obviously. You might as well share it with us."

"It's really quite simple, " Nat responded with a shrug. "Why don't we steal it?"

Kim and Jess turned incredulous eyes onto her. Silence. "You're crazy, " they both said at last.

Natalie merely bowed deeply. "I know, " was her smug reply.

"But, Nat, you do know that it's virtually impossible to steal anything as well-protected as, well, _this_?" Jessica ventured in a whisper, pointing to the glass case.

"Seriously, Nat, the Declaration is guarded constantly. There are armed guards in this room, even now, watching our every move. There are cameras at every corner, not to mention those that we can't even see. And this room is constantly being filled with common tourists, like you and me, who come to oogle at our nation's most revered piece of paper. That doesn't even take into consideration the fact that at night, the entire case, as it stands now, is lowered into a secret, underground vault, and locked who-knows-how-many-times while scanners and laser-guns are activated around the perimeter." Kimberly paused in her spiel for breath. "It just can't be done. Besides, we'd end up going to prison, for sure, at the very least. Surely a crime like that would be right up there with threatening the President."

"Fine, " Nat said, determinedly. "Don't listen to my ideas. _You_ obviously don't want to live a little, and you obviously want other people to get to the treasure first, and claim and use it for entirely wrong reasons."

Kim groaned aloud. "I hate it when she manipulates me this way, Jess. I really do, " she muttered, at which Jess could only grin slightly. "Alright, " she sighed, reluctantly. "Let's get out of here and hear the rest of your hare-brained scheme. We have to hope that somehow, the rest of our group won't notice that we're missing, and that Mr. B won't come back looking for us -- because if he does, our little venture is all over with. And we'll probably be expelled from school while we sit in prison."

"Oh, it'll work, " Natalie responded matter-of-factly, even as another grin spread over her face. "I saw a café just outside the building and off to the right; let's go get something to eat there and I'll fill you in on the way."

Hesitantly, Kimberly followed Nat out of the National Archives, with Jess a step behind her, still casting worried glances behind them as they exited the building and headed slightly east.

Drawing her companions close with both arms, she cast them both an evil grin before beginning, "Now, all we have to do is ... "

"_That_ is never going to work, " Kimberly repeated vehemently with a flippant wave of her hand. "You're telling me that you expect us to sneak into the National Archives during a time when the Declaration is _least likely to be guarded_, somehow remove it from its case without attracting the attention of any security cameras, roll it up, and walk out just as jauntily as if we were mere tourists?"

"Well, not exactly. You see, there's more to it, " Natalie answered almost boredly, toeing a crack in the sidewalk. Glancing across the cast-iron table at her friends, she raised her brows slightly. "You did leave out many of the important details. According to the guide from the National Archives, the Declaration is only removed from its case while it's being cleaned. Cleanings are done every day, and usually around eight o'clock at night. We'd have to gain access to the cleaning room by stealing someone's identification card, or by acquiring his or her thumbprint, and then get the paper out of there before the FBI show up." She paused. "And see, no one's going to know that we're doing this because the security cameras are going to be ... fooled with, a little. If we could get a picture of the empty hallway and broadcast that into the security room, no one will see us sneaking around the building."

In the silence that followed, Kim and Jess stared wordlessly at Nat, who shrugged a little. "I told you, it's foolproof."

"That's impossible, " Jess breathed with a shake of her head. "Nat, you've come up with some pretty insane plans, but I think that this one takes the cake."

"This would take extensive equipment, time, and an incredible amount of luck, " Kimberly said at last. "We'd have to acquire a computer, without doubt, a small webcam, most likely wire-cutters to hack into their security system, a drill to undo the screws holding the Declaration in its case, and a way to establish communication between ourselves. Not to mention something to carry the document out of the building in, and we'd also need a way to hack into their computer system and duplicate some security badges."

"Oh, I know where we could easily find a computer to use, " Nat sniffed airily. "And the other tools can also rather easily be ... acquired."

Kim nearly choked on her lemonade. "Nat, don't you _dare_ steal anything from anyone!"

"If we're going to attempt to steal the Declaration, Kim, then stealing other smaller things surely won't be as noticeable ... and they pale in comparison, anyway. Even if we stole a whole _car_ we'd be put away for less time than stealing the _Declaration_, " Nat pointed out in a huff.

"There must be another way, " Jessica interrupted determinedly. "We can't just run off and take other people's property."

"Why not?" Nat responded nonchalantly. "We'd just be ... _borrowing_ it permanently."

Kimberly opened her mouth to issue an indignant response -- but nothing came out except the incessant, suddenly-annoying ring of a cellphone. Grumbling, the girl pulled the device out of her black mini-backpack and accepted the call. "Hello? Oh! Yes, we're all perfectly fine. No, no, we didn't _exactly_ get lost ... yes, they're right here with me." Pause. "Um. We're sitting at a small café near the National Archives. Well, we decided to grab a snack after losing track of the group. But it never exactly dawned on us to well, call you and let you know that we were here! We assumed that we'd be able to meet up with you later ... " Her voice trailed off slightly, brow furrowing at Nat's rapt-eyed attention. "Oh. Back at the hotel? Oh." Her face fell. "You're coming when? Now?" She ignored Nat's groan and Jess's look of relief. "Okay, Mr. B, " she said at last in a small voice. "We'll be here waiting then. Thanks."

"He's coming to get us?" Natalie demanded the moment she ended the call.

"Well ... yes, " Kim admitted with a shrug. "He's not exactly very happy that we got separated from the group, either. I think he's under the impression that we went off on our own, although he _knows_ that I'm not the type of person that would do that."

"So basically, we either go back to the hotel with him, or -- "

"Or _what_?" Kim interjected sharply, staring narrow-eyed at Natalie. "There is no 'or' in this situation."

"Would you let me finish!" Nat returned in kind. "Either we go back to the hotel with him, or ... we convince him to help us."

"Now _I'm_ convinced that you've truly lost your mind, " Kim muttered under her breath. "Then again, you never exactly had one to begin with."

"True, " Nat agreed with a complacent smile. "Now. Do you know if Mr. B has a laptop -- and if so, d'you think he'd let us use it?"

"Don't even think about _borrowing_ it, " Kim growled. "You'd better have a good excuse for him when he asks us why we're here and what, exactly, you want to do with his computer."

"I'd be _very_ interested to hear your reasons, ladies, " came a strict, gravelly voice from behind Kimberly. Startled, she turned around and stared up into the very intimidating gaze of her history teacher. "Oh. H-Hello there, sir. Would you um, care to join us briefly? I'm sure that I have enough money left on me to buy you a lemonade as well -- and meanwhile, Natalie can fill you in on exactly what we're doing here away from the group, _can't you_, _Nat_?"

Ignoring her friend's far-too-saccharine smile, Nat took a deep breath and began relating her plan and Kim's saga.


End file.
